Happiness in "The Great Gatsby"

Summary: Discusses the theme of happiness and how different characters of "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald obtain it.

The best way to live your life is moment by moment. This is the moral F. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates in his literary masterpiece The Great Gatsby. Living in the present requires not forgetting the past, but accepting it. Gatsby's inability to accept what has happened in his life ultimately leads to his demise. The final moral of The Great Gatsby is to live in a present that is not dominated by an idealized or romanticized past.

Gatsby's commitment to his romanticized past with Daisy leads him to making decisions that ultimately make him miserable. He is so committed to living in the past, he is not even aware of his misery. Gatsby refuses to believe that his long cold love affair with Daisy is over. "Can't repeat the past? Why of course you can!" (Pg. 116) Until his demise, Gatsby is sure that anything can be reversed and that...